Jeff Sabol, a 51-year-old geophysicist who was charged with beating a police officer during the Trump Capitol Riot on January 6 says he was merely "patting him on the back." His explanation doesn't jibe well with his words and actions, though. He was "captured on video dragging a D.C. Metropolitan Police Department officer down a flight of stairs while another rioter hit the cop with an American flag," reports The Daily Beast, while "in another video, Sabol was seen holding a police baton across the officer's neck."
From The Daily Beast:
Sabol, dressed in a tan jacket and black helmet, can be seen in several videos "holding an instrument believed to be a police officer's baton across the police officer's lower neck" while his left hand is on the officer's back.
In another video, Sabol runs up the stairs and attempts "to grab the leg of a presumed police officer," but the cop kicks him down the stairs. Sabol then grabs the officer and pulls him down, punching him in the back, according to the complaint.
Prosecutors state Sabol admitted he jumped over a police barricade during the insurrection and dragged the officer down the stairs. But while there is video of him punching the MPD cop, Sabol insists he was just "patting him on the back" and saying "we got you man," the complaint states.
"Once at the bottom of the stairs, Sabol claims he 'covered the police officer for his own safety' while others hit the police officer with poles," the complaint reads. He claims he later used a baton to "protect" the officer who was on the ground.
After riot, Sabol planned an escape to Switzerland say prosecutors.
